After a quick court hearing on Wednesday, an activist who spearheaded pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University will continue to be held in Louisiana.
Judge Jesse Furman said he would give Mahmoud Khalil’s attorneys permission to speak with Khalil over the phone at least twice today and tomorrow. Federal immigration officials took Khalil into custody at his university-owned flat on Saturday night. In court on Wednesday, attorneys stated that he was transported to a different location in Louisiana after initially being taken to a detention facility in New Jersey.
Since then, Khalil’s lawyers argued, they have been unable to communicate with him in a privileged manner. According to them, Khalil’s prison center would not permit such a call until March 20.
In order to prevent the government from deporting Mahmoud Khalil prior to Wednesday’s hearing, the federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked his departure from the United States. The attempt by Khalil’s attorneys to have him relocated nearer to his home in New York was not decided by Furman on Wednesday. Khalil will continue to be held in custody in Louisiana in the meanwhile.
Khalil’s lawyer, Amy Greer, stated that authorities were carrying out a State Department directive to cancel Khalil’s green card and student visa. Khalil was taken to Jena, Louisiana, a correctional facility. He will not attend the court in New York, his lawyers said.
In December, Khalil received his master’s degree from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. The 30-year-old is married to an eight-month pregnant American citizen.
Even before to his arrest, Khalil’s wife claimed in a statement that “this last week has been a nightmare.”
“An intense and targeted doxxing campaign” that aimed to “spread false claims about my husband that were simply not based in reality” was what she described. She claimed that in the days prior to a federal agent approaching them outside their apartment complex and handcuffing Khalil, Khalil had been seeking legal assistance for that.
As the White House cracks down on students and supposed “agitators” protesting Israel’s conflict with Hamas, President Trump stated Monday that Khalil’s detention was only the first “of many to come.”
Khalil was “given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation’s finest universities and colleges – and he took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege by siding with terrorists,” according to White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday.
Khalil was accused by Leavitt of handing out “pro-Hamas” fliers on the Columbia campus.
Leavitt declared, “We have a zero-tolerance policy of siding with terrorists, period.”
Khalil has not been publicly charged with offering any tangible support for Hamas, despite being suspected of making remarks in favor of the organization. According to his attorneys, he is being penalized for using his right to free speech.
Khalil was “chosen as an example to stifle entirely lawful dissent in violation of the First Amendment,” according to a statement released by Khalil’s lawyers on Monday.
It is “not about free speech,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated Tuesday morning, adding that “this is about people that do not have a right to be in the United States to begin with.”
According to Rubio, “no one has a right to a student visa,” “By the way, nobody is entitled to a green card. Therefore, we have the right to reject your application for a student visa or any other type of visa to enter the United States for almost any reason, but I believe that supporting Hamas, entering our universities and destroying them, and engaging in what are obviously crimes of vandalism and complicity in closing down educational institutions.
Rubio announced on social media that “we will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported” shortly after Khalil’s detention.
Khalil was arrested “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting antisemitism,” according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.
Protests broke out in Manhattan as several Columbia University faculty and students denounced the arrest. On Wednesday, Khalil’s supporters gathered across the street from the courthouse to call for his release.
The arrest and the federal government’s $400 million federal funding suspension over suspected antisemitism on campus were described as “a challenging moment for our community” by Katrina Armstrong, the interim president of Columbia University, in a statement to the university community on Monday.
“At the moment, all eyes are on Columbia. “It is our responsibility to make sure that our university and the ideals of higher education in general endure and flourish,” Armstrong wrote.